You Met Me When the Sun Was Down
by ElZacharie
Summary: On the eve of your 50th birthday, should you not have waken in the body of your soulmate at any time before then, they say the scissors of Istus will cut you off forever, leaving you without one. Barry has gone 48 years without ever waking up in someone else's body, and is perfectly content with his lot in life.
1. Chapter 1

At the age of 48, Barry had long given up on having a soulmate. It was a rare phenomenon, to reach his age and not wake up in the body of another person in the world; it was the subject of stammered apologies in conversations and pitiful looks at weddings and other ceremonies. Most people had their "out of body" experiences by the time they were 25, if not younger. His mother grew increasingly disheartened every birthday he experienced as himself, but tried not to let her disappointment show when she greeted him in the morning.

He hated his birthday. Every single year he woke up in his own body meant another year alone, another year closer to his 50th, the last chance he had to find his soulmate before the universe cut him off completely. Not to mention the fact his mother constantly hounded him to at least put himself out into the world; he wasn't the only one without a soulmate, but that didn't mean he couldn't find someone who made him happy!

But Barry burrowed further into his work, shutting out the rest of the world. His work was the only thing that made him happy, the only thing that kept him from thinking about how the world had screwed him over completely. He'd often fall asleep at his desk, back sore and neck stiff, only to dive straight back into work.

He was happy.

He liked this.

He didn't mind that he was alone.

He could lie to himself for one more year.

On the eve of his 49th birthday, Barry fell asleep in his bed.

And woke up in someone else's.

His head was pounding; a hangover, perhaps? But he didn't drink— his mother came from a line of alcoholics, and had made him swear off drinking when he was 10 or so. He'd tried it freshman year of college, of course, and just that one time had turned him off it for the rest of his life.

Oh god, he had to puke.

Without thinking, Barry leaned over the side of the bed and grabbed a trash can that had, thankfully, been left nearby and hurled his guts up, groaning in pain. Fuuuuck.

"You doin' okay, Lulu?" came a strange, accented voice from the doorway. "I told you not to challenge Maggie to a drinking contest. Man's got the liver of a dwarf."

Barry groaned, not quite registering the oddness of the situation. His head was swimming; what happened to him?

There were footsteps that made his brain throb, then a gentle hand on the small of his back, rubbing in small circles. "Attagirl, get it all out. I made toast for when you're done."

"Not… girl…" he grumbled before launching into another round of puking.

He could practically hear the frown in the other's voice. "Yes you are, darling, and I have a magic missile for anyone who says otherwise."

Forcing his eyes open, Barry took in his surroundings. The room was an absolute disaster; it was as though a wind elemental had swept through, taking extra care to make sure the clothes were covering every single surface. The walls were covered in posters of attractive models and famous figures of every race, gender, and size, cooking recipes, and photographs he couldn't quite make out. There were scorch marks along the ceiling, where a half burnt fan lazily turned.

This was not his room.

Turning to look at the owner of the other voice, Barry was momentarily stunned by their beauty. They were a masculine androgynous elf with flowing blonde hair that clashed with dark skin marked by star-like freckles and piercing brown eyes lined with sparkling gold eyeshadow and smudged eyeliner. Their outfit was a rumpled black crop top and pajama pants, like they hadn't bothered to do anything else but change their pants and fall into bed.

This was not his mother.

"Who… are you?"

The elf rolled their eyes, brushing his hair out of his eyes. "I'm your _brother_ , dingus. How hard did you hit your head?"

"Uh, yeah… right…" This was all just a weird dream, he was sure of it. He licked his lips, coming back with an odd taste— lipstick maybe? He wasn't sure; he hadn't worn his mother's lipstick since he was a kid. "Could I get some water?"

"One glass of water, coming right up." The elf stood up and made their way out of the room with heavy footsteps.

Halfway down the hall, the footsteps stopped for a minute, then turned around in a sprint. The door flew open and slammed against the wall, causing Barry to yell in pain and clutch his head.

" _YOU AREN'T MY SISTER!_ "


	2. Chapter 2

The shriek of an alarm clock right next to her startled Lup into the waking world, and, immediately, she knew something was wrong. First off, there was a feeling of emptiness inside her, like she had stepped into a magic negating force field. Second was the alarm clock— she'd been drinking heavily last night, to the point of being blackout drunk, so where was the usual hangover? Next, she realized how damn much her back hurt and how the world seemed blurry, including the alarm clock when she shut it off.

When her hand slammed down on the snooze button, she realized how fucking _big_ it was. Lup held it up to her face, squinting to see it. It was a lot softer than her own tiny hands, without the scars from cooking and burns she'd obtained through the years.

Was this… her soulmate's body?

" _Vos di genem?_ " she whispered, then clutched her throat. Her— no, his voice was so deep, almost kinda gravelly. Kinda… kinda hot, if she said so herself…

"Barry?" someone called from behind the door. "Are you up? You need to get ready for the wedding!"

A wedding? Aw, fuck, Lup hated weddings. They were always so damn boring! Well, orc weddings excluded. Seeing the wedding party wrestle for the hand of the person marrying into the family was always a joy; it was a thing they did to prove that they could protect and provide for their partner, although the spouse always won. Wait. Maybe this was an orc wedding? Ooh, that'd be so exciting!

"Barry? Are you awake, dear?" came the voice again. "You didn't lose your glasses again, did you?"

"N-no!" Lup called, pawing at the end table for anything that felt like a pair of glasses. Once she found them, the room jumped into focus. "I'm awake!"

Ugh, this place was drab as hell. Nothing on the walls except a few diplomas, maybe a few framed photographs, but that was it. The furniture was all brown and grey, the only splash of color apart from photos being the bookshelf against the back wall that was crammed with giant, tabbed books. From a distance, she could see that the titles were full of scientific jargon— great, her soulmate was a fuckin' nerd.

Lup forced herself out of bed, groaning at how her back ached. A nicely pressed suit sat on the back of a chair, pushed into a desk with only a computer and a few haphazardly tossed about notebooks on its surface. Avoiding the computer's reflection, Lup threw on the outfit laid out for her, taking a minute to look at her soulmate's body. He was pretty chubby and had quite the happy trail— she giggled as she pat her hands against it before throwing on the shirt.

She could tell her soulmate was trans, just like her. It actually made her a little happy to know that she would have someone who could understand what it was like when she was dysphoric. Not that she would have hated a soulmate who was, well, cis, but…

" _Barry?"_ the voice from earlier yelled. "What's going on in there? We're going to be late!"

Lup was startled from her thoughts and rushed to get her clothes on, trying to keep up some semblance that she was this Barry person.

That she was her _soulmate._

Oh gods, she had a soulmate! Lup covered her face with her hands, holding back an excited squeal. Everyone always pitied her for going an entire century without ever meeting her soulmate, especially after Taako and Kravitz got married. They'd always planned to get married together, but Taako wanted so badly to tie the knot that Lup couldn't stand holding him back any longer.

Lup took a deep breath, a grin spreading across her face. Once the wedding was over, she'd take one of her soulmate's notebooks and leave her information on it, so that he could find her afterwards. It'd probably be too weird for her to go out and find them herself; what if they lived on completely separate continents? If she had to travel too far, she'd probably end up falling asleep and waking up in her own body, leaving her soulmate to wonder where the fuck they were.

"Barry? I'm coming in!"

The elf shrieked and jump as the door swung open, desperately trying to get her pants up and buckled— why were her fingers so damn clumsy?!

In the doorway stood a little old human lady, her face lined with wrinkle upon wrinkle, the sort that one could only get from working the land. Her grey hair was pooled into a lazy bun on the top of her head, a few strands already falling around her face. She wore a plain black mumu with a belt tied across her waist, hiding a fair amount of her muscular frame. The old woman frowned at her, crossing her arms.

"Barry James Hallwinter, why are you not dressed yet? We were supposed to leave five minutes ago!" the woman scolded. Lup's face went hot as she stammered an apology. "And your hair is a mess! What have you been doing this entire time? Were you up late again?"

"Uh… n- no ma'am. Sorry," she mumbled, grabbing the socks and shoes that had been conveniently left nearby and putting them on as she sat at the edge of the bed. "I'm just a lil' tired."

"You told me you'd go to sleep early tonight, tesoruccio," the woman said in a soft, gentle voice, brushing her calloused fingers through her hair to smooth it out. "C'è qualcosa su tua mente?"

"Um… bless you?" Lup ventured, wincing when the woman's hand froze. She looked up at her, holding back a grimace when she saw the woman begin to put two and two together.

"La anima gemella?" she whispered, taking Lup's cheeks between her hands. "Anima gamella! Mio bambino ha un'anima gemella!"

The woman began kissing Lup's face all over, tears running down her cheeks as she cried out, "Mio Bambino finalmente ha un'anima gemella!" before pressing Lup's face against her chest.

"I never thought this day would come," she sobbed. "Mio povero piccalino finally has a soulmate!"


End file.
